


Noticing Me, Noticing You

by noorakardemmomesaetre



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Love with Honesty Conquers All, Romance, Southside Serpent Jughead, True Love, a touch of smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-13 22:40:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13580427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noorakardemmomesaetre/pseuds/noorakardemmomesaetre
Summary: A week post 2x12, Betty is honest with Jughead about her own actions while they’ve been split. Will it make them stronger, or only serve to pull them apart...again?





	Noticing Me, Noticing You

**Author's Note:**

> *I have not included any mention of Betty finding her mother at the end of 2x12, so it may be a little AU without that.
> 
> Please enjoy! :)

She’d hesitated.

And he had been so mesmerized by the love and devotion in her eyes, the way her body fit snugly on top of his, her softly spoken words, “I want all of you…tonight,” but he’d _noticed._

And while his mind told him to _relax, it’s nothing,_ that she would’ve _said_ something by now and she hasn’t so obviously, once again, _it’s nothing,_ his heart noticed how her smile faltered just a little whenever her eyes left his and how her fists clenched just slightly whenever Archie’s name was dropped in conversation.

She has made attempts to tell him again on several different occasions, but the couple were constantly interrupted, a concept not foreign to their relationship.

Days went on and the war waging inside of him grew deafening.

He lay now with his head in her lap, her fingers running through his beanieless curls as she reads The Awakening for a class, and the peace that normally accompanies his body when its pressed against hers is absent amongst his uneasiness.

“Betts?”

“Hmmm,” she says softly, and he can almost feel the smile tugging on her lips at his use of the nickname he clings to with a desperation he’s never felt before.

“Remember… _that_ night…”

His voice is quiet and heavy with a concern she can’t ignore as her fingers drop from his hair.

“Yes, how could I forget…”

He sits up, turning his upper body so he can really look at her, this girl that stole his heart so long ago he doesn’t know how he’d survived the past few weeks without her. 

“Juggie?” her eyebrows furrow, worry quickly crossing her face and Jughead holds himself back from pressing his lips to hers and easing her pain with a soothing, “it’s nothing babe, nevermind.”

But it’s not nothing and if he lets his mind win this battle, the war being fought within him will never cease.

“It’s just…you said you needed to tell me something that night, and I wanted to wait until you were ready to tell me about whatever it is, but I’m really starting to feel like…you’re hiding something…”

She searches his eyes for a moment before his own heart falls as she covers her face with her hands and shakes her head.

“I can’t –“

“Betty, hey,” he says softly, fully facing her now as he reaches over and gently pulls her hands away from her face, his gaze locked on hers as he murmurs, “whatever it is _, I can handle it.”_

She bites her lip anxiously, her eyes falling to where his thumbs is rubbing soothing circles over her palms.

“Jug,” her bottom lip is trembling now and he can almost hear the shallow beats of his heart as he waits for her to continue, “Archie and I…kissed.”

Insecurity rears its’ ugly head as the words fall from her lips and Jughead’s eyebrows furrow, a look his face has grown quite accustomed to due to recent events.

“It was so insignificant – not even a second long – like that would be exaggerating,” her words are coming at him so fast and he’s trying to keep up but his heart is pounding and the image of thse beautiful pouted lips pressed against those of his best friend is an image he’s having trouble unseeing, “and we haven’t ever spoken about it. It was right in the middle of the Black Hood mess - we both pulled away looking horrified, Jughead, _horrified_ and I’m so so sorry.”

His hands pull away from hers in order to run thoughtfully through his hair as he looks down, nodding.

“But more than for the kiss, I am so sorry for not telling you right away,” her voice is quiet now, barely above a whisper, as her hands quickly find his again, “you are the only person I want. The _only.”_

He believes her. He knows in his heart that he does and the relief that floods through his body when he realizes that is almost crushing as he squeezes her hands, a small teasing smile tugging at his lips, “ _so insignificant,_ huh?”

Her face breaks into a smile as she giggles, pulling her hand away to give him a playful smack on the arm and he leans forward to press his lips against hers.

“Thank you for telling me that,” he murmurs, his hand finding the soft skin of her lower back under her sweater.

But his eyes open when she pulls away, that pouty bottom lip tugged anxiously between her teeth again.

“What is it, Betts?”

“There’s…more…” 

“You and Archie did _more_ than kiss?” his voice breaks as insecurity is quickly replaced by a heated shade of jealousy. Not that he has any right considering his own actions with someone else, but still… 

“No, no, of course not,” she quickly reassures him, her fingers clinging to his as his shoulders slump, relief becoming an old friend during this conversation.

“Then what is it?” he brushes a golden lock of hair that’s fallen in front of her face behind her ear, trying to convey with his entire being that he _loves_ her and that he’s in no place to judge her for whatever it is she’s hiding.

“You know how, my brother, Chic, is living with us?”

 Jughead nods, sitting back just a bit, his hands still intertwined supportively with hers.

 “He does…like his work is…webcam work?”

 His eyebrow raises as he tries to understand what she means, “as in, he’s in tech?”

“Um no…no…more like…fantasy fulfillment,” she breathes, her hands gripping his tightly as though this is supposed to mean something to him.

 “Interesting,” Jughead says, trying to keep his face neutral although confusion is now wracking his brain as he attempts to figure out where she’s going with this.

When she realizes his blank stare means that whatever she is trying to say hasn’t clicked for him, she sighs, her hands beginning to shake as she pulls them from Jughead and stands, moving away from the couch.

With her back to him, arms folded tightly across her chest, her voice breaks as she says so quietly he almost misses it, “I may have…tried it.”

He leans back against the couch now, running his hand over his mouth as he attempts to understand, “what _exactly_ do you mean by _‘tried it?’”_

A tear rolls down her face as she turns around to face him, “I mean, that while we were broken up I was so _confused_ and…and… _lonely_ and I didn’t know what to do with all of these feelings I was having and so I talked to a guy…in my bra…and _that_ wig. I…fulfilled…his fantasy.”

Jughead stands now, shoving his hands in his pockets and letting his head fall back as he stares up at the ceiling.

Kissing Archie is one thing. Archie may be his weakness, but he understands. He did more than kiss Toni and he had felt awful, disconnected from himself the next day. And his anger and frustration and hurt and insecurities had manifested themselves into something dark… _something violent_ …

Those feelings he had had without Betty by his side had made him do something _unthinkable_ in the form of removing someone’s tattoo from their own body with a _knife._

“Jughead…”

Her voice is thick with tears and pain and he knows…he understands…why she didn’t tell him. Why she’d hid this dark part of herself and what she had done in the interim of _them._

For the same reasons that he had done the same. She was terrified of losing him. Again. 

“Betty,” he turns to her, the gravel in his voice unmistakably laced with emotion, “is that it? Is there anything else?”

She shakes her head, tears rolling down the soft pink flesh of her cheeks.

“Tell me,” his voice grows stronger as he steps closer to her, “tell me if there is anything else you’re hiding. I need to know.” 

She shakes her head again, her voice a hoarse whisper, “there is _nothing_ else.”

Their gaze holds as they stand there, all of their skeletons laid bare on the floor between them.

“I love you, Betty Cooper,” he says, his voice unwavering as his hands fall from his pockets in a vulnerable shrug, “through all of the shit, and the beautiful fucked up mess that is us, I love you. All of you. And I want you, all of you, every day.”

One last tear falls from Betty’s lashes as she watches him, her voice a soft whisper of disbelief that after everything she’s told him, he’s still standing here with so much love and understanding in his eyes, _“I love you, Jughead Jones.”_

He quickly closes the space between them, wrapping her in a tight hug and she gasps as her arms wrap around his neck, the fact that a terrifyingly hard conversation had only made them strong surrounding them like a warm blanket.

His lips find hers in a desperate rush and his hands fall to her upper thighs as he lifts her up, her own legs subconsciously wrapped around his torso, the need to remove any space between them almost palpable. Her lips trail heatedly down the column of his neck, where she sucks and bites roughly as a low moan falls from his mouth. 

Kicking open the door to his bedroom, her hands thread roughly through his hair and he lays her on his bed, swiftly climbing between her legs, his arms falling on either side of her head as they kiss with a renewed passion.

And, for the first time, Jughead Jones makes love to Betty Cooper with a bare vulnerability and a raw honesty that had been only slightly tainted by her omissions that night on the stained couch of his father’s trailer.

**Author's Note:**

> I love hearing your thoughts, so leave them if you'd like! Thank you for reading ❤  
> You can always find me on Tumblr at noorakardemommesaetre.


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